The soaring price of stamps has cast doubt on the future of Christmas cards, but despite the money and time involved it seems gen Z want to keep the festive tradition likened to sending a “long distance hug”.
This year, sales of boxed cards are down 23%, and individual Christmas cards 15%, according to John Lewis’s annual shopping trends report, but people have embraced Instagram or WhatsApp to share festive greetings, or sent e-cards. Some send a combination.
“I send physical cards when I can give them to people directly or in my college’s pigeonholes,” said Katherine, 18. “Postage is so expensive now. It was about 48 people this year so undoable.”
Katherine, a student, also sends a “happy Christmas” text and suggests together they provide a good way of “restarting a lapsed connection”. Digital cards seem “pointless”, however, as “it isn’t part of your text chain”, she said.
Physical cards are “so much more personal”, agreed Neve Spalding. Although messy scribblers beware, as the 17-year-old A-level student, who lives in Ipswich, said “your handwriting can tell a lot about how much effort you’ve put into a card”.
They were two of more than 200 readers who responded after we asked for the views of gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and other generations on whether they preferred physical or digital cards.
Over the past five years the regulated price of a second-class stamp has increased nearly 40% to 85p. Over the same period a first-class stamp is up almost 140% to £1.65.
Two increases this year in first-class costs mean senders of all ages are reconsidering the tradition.
“I used to send and receive around 60 cards,” said Penny, 54, from Sussex. “As stamp prices rocketed, everyone cut back year by year. This year, I have sent 25 – of which 12 were by post and the rest by hand – because I just can’t afford the stamps. I think I’m unusual among my circle that I’m still giving cards at all.”
But Penny is still a believer in a ritual she thinks keeps friendships alive: “I have one particular school friend who lives many miles away. Last year, for the first time in 20 years, we finally managed to meet up. I’m certain we wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t for our annual Christmas card contact.”
Natalie Herman has painted 90 watercolour cards (she started at the beginning of November) for her friends and family. “I adore the process,” said the 69-year-old opera singer from Croydon. “I also love writing inside my handmade cards and on the envelopes with my italic fountain pen.”
Chelle, 59, from Bristol, feels the same. “I love Christmas cards. Sadly, I just cannot afford the price of the stamps alongside the price of cards for the amount of people I’d like to send a seasonal greeting to. Digital just feels a little soulless to me … whereas seeing the address written in the familiar handwriting of a friend on an envelope is like a long-distance hug.”
Even if it is no longer the norm to have a mantelpiece crowded with cards or strung on ropes around the room, Britons are still prolific card senders. With large numbers sold by schools and in charity shops, the total exchanged is hard to pinpoint, but research on behalf of Hallmark Cards suggests Britons bought about 30m boxes and 120m single Christmas cards in 2024.
The poll of 1,000 people found young people were as likely to send Christmas cards as older Britons and were planning to send and spend more on cards than in 2023, which was not true for older people.
Sales of single cards have declined 8% since the pandemic, but have now stabilised, said Joe Tipper, an analytics and insights manager at Hallmark Cards.
The sales decline for boxed cards is steeper, probably driven by changing lifestyles such as remote working. However, the tradition is “still alive and well” with 80% of Britons buying Christmas cards, he said.
There is also a growing tribe of e-card senders. The WhatsApp digital card company 2050cards says there has been “unprecedented” demand this year, with more than 10,000 new customers in December. Others reported using sites such as Dontsendmeacard.com to send charity e-cards, enabling them to donate what they would have spent on cards and stamps to causes they care about.
Grahame Pigney, who is retired and lives in France, sends digital Christmas and birthday cards. “The cost of posting physical cards is extortionate and for around £20 per year we can send unlimited Christmas and birthday cards,” he said.
Sheffield retiree Ric Morte said there was “nothing better” than receiving cards at Christmas. “For some, perhaps more elderly people, it’s one of the very few occasions they receive any post other than bills and circulars. Reading an enclosed hand-written letter, arranging them as decorations, glancing at them occasionally, remembering the past, just adds to the festive spirit. We send cards because we care.
“By contrast, digital cards are a blight. Scrooge would turn in his grave.”
